I have one.
We decided to homeschool a few months before we moved last year and I was really hoping our house would have an extra room where we could have all our homeschool stuff without junking up other rooms of my house. I scoured the inner nets looking for photos of this elusive room and am sad to tell you that I didn't find much. I envisioned my boys going in the room at 8:30 every morning and coming out at 12. This room was gonna be great. No maps on the wall in the living room in my house.
Well, that 8:30 thing didn't happen. But, I'm am so happy that this house has an extra room. It took me having this room to realize that we really didn't need it. Don't get me wrong, I love having a room to store all our books and copiers and papers and pencils and games and manipulatives and maps and paint and even toys. But, we really never did school in this room. It' so much more natural for us to start our morning with me reading to the boys and we either do that at the breakfast table or on the sofa or in front of the fire in the winter or on one of their beds or outside on the porch or at the park.
Then, we usually do math and they pick different places to do that but one usually sits on the sofa and another on the floor at the coffee table and another in the dining room or in the secret reading room. I don't really care where they do their work as long as they do it neatly and with a good attitude. Deciding on one place for them to do school is not a battle I care to fight. This has been so freeing to me. I was actually surprised to find that my boys can learn in places other than sitting at a desk. I think they might learn more when not sitting at a desk.
I love that just this week my oldest BEGGED his younger brother to let him {older} read to him {younger} out of his history book {not a text book} and they spent about 15 minutes upstairs on the bed with the door closed reading about Egypt. That was a win. No schoolroom needed.
So I would tell you that I'm glad that we have bookshelves . I would also tell you that I love having a copier/scanner/printer. But, I think it's most important to have cozy places to have school and I think that even helps set the tone for natural, life long learning. When they are sitting on the sofa doing something other than watching TV that is nice. When they want some privacy and go to their room to read, or draw that thrills me.
So, at our next house, my husband will be using one of the extra bedrooms for his office. Most of the stuff from the schoolroom will go in there. We'll do some work at the kitchen table. Which will be my big huge dining room table because it can fit in the kitchen and I am so glad about that runonfragmentsentance. We'll do some work at a cozy sofa that will be in what I think is supposed to be a dining room right off the kitchen. It will be more like a keeping room for us.
here's the kitchen where I'll put our dining room tableSo what do you think? Do you have a schoolroom? Do you have maps in your living room and love it? What works for you?
94 birds say {click here to leave a comment}:
We start out doing group work on the dining room table (we don't have a table in the kitchen). This is usually history, science, or geography. When it comes time for their more individual work like writing or math, they like to go to the desks they have in their rooms. It gives them a chance for quiet thought. If they get stuck on something, they find me.
I think things will go better when we finish working on our house addition/remodel. That has been part of our schooling too! My 12 year old son has helped with taking measurements and figuring square footage for flooring. My 10 year old loves doing the demo with dad and asks tons of questions about the electrical outlets and how to run power to ceiling fans. He might be our engineer! My 8 year old daughter keeps her eye on daddy and brings him water or a screwdriver! He is her main concern!
O.k...this really is crazy..
I'm a lurker on your blog for a couple of weeks now. I have 2 boys that are in school this year but we will be homeschooling next year. Well, earlier this year we sold our suburban *larger* home for a smaller cottage in town(really small) We did this because we wanted to simplify and didn't feel like we needed the extra space. After much thought and prayer, we have decided to pull the boys out of charter school and keep them home. In our new home we have to use the dining room as the homeschool room and I don't want it to be a mess! So..yesterday while I was scouring the internet looking for pictures of other people's rooms I almost put a comment on yesterday's post for you wanting to know how and where you homeschooled. Popped on today and there it is!! What a God moment for me..it's amazing!
If you have found any creative ideas for storage I would love them! We still want to be able to use our dining room as a dining room. Thanks so much!!!
(sorry for the long post-I just couldn't believe it!)
I don't home school. But I do love your kitchen and would love to have you read to me by the fireplace.
Love....and I mean love your ideas and personal touches. I do have to admit although I lack alot in the deco department I did post some pics of some crannies in my home and the first one is dedicated to you sweetheart!
This new home is like a clean slate for all your ideas. Looks like fun!
Have a great day!
Renee:)
P.S.- Cheers to you for homeschooling your children.
Im still trying to decide... Home school or not. All three of my chicka dees have asked. It's a scary thing to decide. I feel it would be a good thing for them but I have trouble getting them to just get homework done. My oldest will be a senior this coming year. Too late for him I guess. My second to oldest loves school. The baby will be in 3rd. She would love it. It's a hard call. You make it look easy. The new nest looks lovely! Susie H
I've recently found your blog & love to come here! We are finishing our 16th year of homeshooling with just one year to go! We have always done school around the dining room table, on the couch, or as they got older the kids would take books into their room to work on. School is just a part of our normal life & we do it where we live!!! We started out in a VERY small house so storage was always - fortunately we had 40 acres so we spent lots of time learning in the fields & woods. LOVE Sonlight - we used that for 6 or 7 years.
We will begin homeschooling our oldest this fall (kindergarten), and we won't have a homeschool room.
I was homeschooled along with my four siblings growing up, and we never had a designated space. The couch or my bed were always my favorite spots. I think that's why I love my laptop so much now; I can work in a comfy spot rather than at a rigid desk!
Yea! Thanks so much for posting this!!!!! I'm homeschooling for the first year next year and was undecided how to set it up. I'm about to do a chalkboard like the one you have in your room. I lurve your projects! My ds saw your boys and asked if they could come over and play!
We have homeschooled *forever* and I always thought we needed a school room. We had one two houses ago and we never used it for school. School storage, yes... school work, no.
My boys are older (16, 14 and almost 13), but we usually start at the dining room table and they end up all over the house. One is usually on his bed, one is on the couch and the other can be anywhere from his bed room to the basement to outside under a tree!
Right now I have everything in my great-grandmas ginormous antique hutch in the dining room. We have a cork board hanging up, but the only map is a map of Germany. (The boys and I are going to Germany next summer, and the map was a gift from the friend we will be visiting. We use it as motivation!)
Hi ! My name is Deborah and I have 4 kids (2 boy, 2 girl) ages 5.7.9. and 10. This is our 5th year homeschooling. We move a lot because my husband is in the military and I have set up a school room in each of the basements of our many homes. But I am not a basement-dweller. We school at the kitchen table. We have a formal dining room, but I hate the sound of it--- "formal". I made it into a library/office instead. It's yummy. If my boys want to do school standing up or jumping around or while shooting rubberbands at each other--be my guest. If my girls want to heap their many stuffed animals on their laps while they are doing math, that's fine with me. It's the glory of being home and it makes me smile .
We use our kitchen, we have maps everywhere and papers and much much more! I have always wanted a classroom, but maybe we don't really need it!
I'm a former homeschool mom who always wished I had a separate room for the school stuff. We live in a very small house so everything was done in the dining room. Except when it was done in the living room or park or...well, just like you we found that learning at home didnt have to have the strictures that classroom learning does. And a word for all you moms who are fighting the good fight now...I was always so afraid I was doing it wrong. Was I missing something? Could they really only need a few houors a day? Well the girls went to high school after being at home for 5 years and they both graduated with honors. I had teachers praise them the whole way through. Homeschooling works! Enjoy your kids and believe in yourself. Nobody cares more than you do about their education:>)
We don't have an extra room or a dining room. We have a large (seats 6 normally, can seat 10) table in our kitchen, plus a bar that seats 3, so I separate the kids out between the two ends of the table, the bar, or in the living room, which adjoins to the kitchen/dining. We keep our school stuff in built-in cabinets in the living room, and keep extra books either in our office, or the kids' rooms. Our living room has a fireplace, so we can quickly pile up in there and read whenever we want to.
As for maps and stuff. My dh doesn't care for maps, whiteboards, etc. to be on the walls after the school day is done, so we have taken our maps and glued them to a large posterboard or foam board (something cheap and stiff), then dh adds hook-things to them, and has put two small nails in the wall. We can hang our maps or whiteboard when we need it, and then at the end of the day, take them down and stash them behind the china cabinet or between the refrigerator and the cabinets.
By the way, I think it's great that you posted a picture of your messy bookshelf, along with your perfectly-decorated house. Keepin' it real, sister.
I don't homeschool, but I do have a playroom with a big old kitchen table I set up for the kids to do their homework on. I thought it would be great for them to have such a big space where they could work and make messes and not have to clean it all up before dinner. Turns out they don't want to do their homework up there. They still want to sit around the kitchen table. I whine and beg for them to go upstairs and use that space I made for them, but to no avail, so I give up. -Julia :-)
We will be homeschooling our ouldest son for the first time next (this?) year. I have been excited about having a schoolroom, but I, too know that we probably wont use it that much.
It seems much more fun to read in the treehouse!
Ah Nester... I dont have kids yet - but my clock has certainly started ticking, maybe a little louder after reading your post. I dream about what you have. The house, the family, the kids. Never more so than now, do I want to home school my children. I love the feeling that I get from your post; the home schooling seems to speak to the individuality of each of your children, being able to be free to learn in the manner that suits them. I love it! Its such an inspiration!
I'm new to reading your blog; just found you last week. So far I like what I see. I'm looking forward to following your move to the new home.
I don't homeschool but I completely agree about hating rooms that you don't use. We moved into our house 6 years ago and the formal dining room was right off of the kitchen. A year ago this week we re-did that room. We moved our small, round kitchen table to the basement (kids) area and it now serves as a place for games/homework/eating w/friends. The dining room table moved to the kitchen and we purchased a bench to use for seating rather than the chairs. The dining room has become what I refer to as a hearth room (although there's no hearth!). It has a sofa, chair & ottoman and the t.v. It's where my family waits until dinner is served and where we've made many happy memories together in the last year. It went from a never-used room to one of the favorite rooms in the house!
We set up a school room this year but we had to move out of it for some remodeling. We ended up doing school in the family room and never went back to the school room. It is much more cozy! I even have maps in the family room! =)
We have a schoolroom that doubles as the kids playroom (you can view it here: http://littlewhiteschoolhouse.blogspot.com/2008/05/new-camera.html ) But I am sad to say, we do not use it for school! I do keep all my school things out there, but when the baby (22mo) stopped taking morning naps it became impossible to do school out there. She was always climbing on the table and grabbing the kids pencils and books! So, now we do school at the dining room table, which makes my living room/dinning room a mess most of the time, but it is convenient. I get distracted a lot more though! I think we will try the schoolroom again in the fall, the kids like to do school out there.
I found you via your reader Heathahlee, and I'm so glad I did!
We do not have a school room, but a do have a "nook" that I use with my 1st grader. In that little corner of the house I have hung a dry erase board and some teaching charts. That's also where the copier is. I don't see how anybody homeschools without a copier? Anyway, my 4th grader sits at the kitchen counter/bar and does her work there. Like you, I did not want maps and such hanging in our main living area. Just not my thing. And just incase your are curious, tomorrow I'm posting pics of our main living area. So, if you have no more packing to do, and you are all ready to move, and you are just really tired of picking your toes, come have a look :)
We have homeschooled for 14 years. We have never had a school room. At first we would sit at the kitchen table for math etc...but over the years I have found that they will find a comfy spot and go to work. They come to me if anything is new or if they have questions. We always read together on the couches in the living room or on a bed or outside...I love the learning that takes place when it is done in a natural way, not tied to a desk. Especially for boys! A few years ago, my husband would read "The Cat of Bubastes", by G.A. Henty to the kids in the evening on the front porch. They would sit out there with the moon coming up and hear about life in Ancient Egypt...they still remember the details of that story! Of course that was when we lived at our old house with the porch, but that is another story! :)
Oh, Nester...I do anxiously await each and every new post you post...yes, children, post can be a noun AND a verb. By harry, maybe I could homeschool...I have two boys, 4 and almost 1. My 4 yr. old has just finished his first year of preschool. My husband and I have always wondered if we should homeschool. I taught for 8 yrs. before my first was born, so I think they would be fine for K-5, but am scared to pieces about what could happen to them after that! I am also selfishly aware that we might drive each other crazy and wouldn't I want "MY TIME" each day while the boys are at school? I hate that I'm that selfish. Did you have these thoughts before you started homeschooling, Nester? I think I am leaning towards being a bad, lazy Mom and sending them to public school (we do have a great school system here)for at least the first few years. Is that backwards? OK, so I have a lot of questions. But thanks so much for all the great things you show and tell us in your beautiful blog. Oh, and random thought: we are possibly moving and I keep telling my husband we have to paint everything in Tobacco Road. He is funny and refers to you as "that crafty girl's blog you read". Best wishes to you and all of your boys (hubby, too) on your move. Jennie
I don't have a school room either. I have been wanting one...but after your post...I now know, I don't need one. So Thank you for that! LOL! We use a fold up card table in our "great room". During the weekends, I clear it and use it as my craft table. We have a small home with no dining room. So the kitchen table is used as a dining table and sometimes a working island. I really love that I can use the table in my kitchen for both.
I too don't like having a room that we don't use. So Woohoo for you!!!
Thanks again!
Susan
I don't homeschool, but love your thoughts on not needing a room.
I can't wait to see what you do with your new nest! I'm sure I'll be blown away and will be copying it shortly. :)
Here's a question for you...where did you buy your tables? I love your big dining room table and also love your smaller kitchen table & homeschool table.
Y'all are all so encouraging and have such great ideas! Everyone, go and read up in the comments what
Kathleen Grace
wrote! Wow! I needed that! And all of your map ideas and room ideas! And those of you who don't homeschool and wonder how I'm allowed to even do it with my poor editing and writing--I love you!
My tables, big oval one in the dining room is from sofa express--I paid whatever retail was like an idiot.
black one that i moved from the kitchen to homeschool room so it's in both photos--hobby lobby $60 and the white legged one with the wood top that's in the kitchen now $50 kmart.
it don't got to be perfect to be beautiful.
We do the same things you do. We use the sofa, table, etc. - the same places we do life, and I like that schoolwork is just part of normal life around here.
I have always thought I wanted a homeschool room. When our third daughter was married at Christmas this year, we finally had an empty bedroom. Perfect. Wrong. I discovered I like the kids at the kitchen table doing their work. Our youngest daughter is extremely adhd and the table is the perfect place for her to learn. In the spring, summer and fall we usually do some of the day at the picnic table on the patio. On rainy days we sometimes do it on the enclosed porch.
Thank you Kathleen Grace, for the encouragement! We all need it! Even though we're done for the year (yea!) I'm already thinking ahead to 4th grade. We don't have a room, but our high school was remodeling and threw out some old desks (the kind where the plastic chair is attached to the metal desk frame). I called and asked if we could have one and they told me if I wanted a broken one they weren't repairing those. My sweet and resourceful husband picked up one and built a desk top to fix the broken one he removed. Now my 8 year old not only does his schoolwork there, but when he wants to draw or color, he sits there on his own.
We've homeschooled for 10 yrs & like you, I once tried having a schoolroom. It just wasn't practical for us, either. Everybody likes to spread out & pick their own place to study. :) I love the versatility that homeschooling brings - and studying in the great room or the kitchen or in a bedroom is just another one of those wonderful perks!
As for storage for school stuff - the older kids (ages 12 & 15) keep their books & school stuff in their rooms. I keep all the other school supplies, school books - for our 9 yr old, craft supplies & maps in the kitchen island. (lots of room there & it's centrally located in the house)
I like to keep clutter at a minimum, so everything has a special spot in the island to put things away when we're done.
I do LOVE how you decorated your schoolroom, even though you didn't really use it for school. It's very inviting! And I loved seeing a small glimpse into the new nest - beautiful!
I don't have kids, but I'm immensely envious of your room under the stairs. :)
I am always amazed at the awesome moms who home school! My sister in law has for 17 years.
Love the special rooms you have but I agree, I learn better in a comfortable chair!
You have inspired me to do lots of window mistreatments in my house young lady! It has been fun, I just posted pics on my blog of my dining room, thanks for sharing all of your gifts with us! Dang, I missed out on the cool tassles you posted yesterday, I wanted them all!
I totally agree! We have "school room" it houses the books computers, copier etc. We do everything at the kitchen table, counter or on the couches. Since the beginnig 10 years ago I found that we like to be cozy and together. Sure there are times when we need quiet space (4 girls). I like your secret reading nook. Kinda wish we had one. I've got 2 huddled on their beds reading away right now!
I do have a friend who uses her school room as such. It's a large loft add on. Everyone schools together up there. I would never get anything else done and I would end up micro managing their learning!
Last year we homeschooled in our formal dining room. Blech. Too dark and too far removed from the rest of the house. This year we've done it at the kitchen table so I can cook or do laundry and still be with the boys.
We do some reading on the couch, but most of the work gets done at the table (DS is very distractible).
I did have a sideboard I used in the dining room. I gave it a makeover last summer and moved it into the family room and that's where we keep the school stuff in use. Stuff we don't use regularly is in the office on bookshelves. And the maps are in the office too...behind the doors.
I like the look of the new house. Can't wait to see you put your touches on it.
We have a loft upstairs. This year when we started school, I decided that we would turn part of it into our school space and that has been great. While we start the day there, we never finish it there! If it's warm, we take our work outside to the backyard! If it's super cold, we try to stay upstairs, but most of the time the girls sit on beanbags or on the couch.
This is our second year to homeschool and I have to say that having a designated space for all the "stuff" has made my life so much easier!!!! For me, I just function better if I know everything has a place to land and rest until it's time to be used again!!!
Blessings,
steph.
Hmm, I don't homeschool but I still would love to have a homeschool room. Actually, I would love to have an office/library/art/craft type room. You know, somewhere to hide all the books, papers, computer, printer/fax/scanner/copier. And pay bills and hide all the paper that accumulates. Your lucky to have a room like that, even if you don't actually hang out there. But your room is awfully cute, so I'd hang out there if it were mine.
Is a "keeping" room some official term that I don't know about? Whatever it is, yours looks like it will be nice. Love the columns and that window. Good light.
Great post! I have a nice big bonus room upstairs that I had planned to have school in- but it never happens! We use the kitchen table and the couch, and the porch :)
I've wondered where you homeschooled...thank you for the peek at your schoolhouse!
I'm interested to see if your experience becomes mine. I am starting homeschool for the first time in two weeks. I have spent LOTS of time getting the school room together in our study. Now we will just see if we end up elsewhere in the house! :) I did get a cheapy daybed to put in there so we could have a cozy place to read, and it doubles as an extra guest bed if we have spillover from the guest room.
How has the Sonlight curriculum worked out?
My husband will be so relived! I always think we need a school room. I keep saying we need to add on ...or we need to move. Lately, it seems homeschool moms who have a school room never use them and homeschool moms who don't have one covet the ones who do. Ahhh..straight hair, curly hair!! Ha!Ha! We school at the dining room table and my hutch is filled with books and curiculum. i do have a map on the wall, but recently I've been thinking about putting a nice frame on it and making it look like art. You're right we end up cozing up on the couch or bed or porch. I guess it's time for me to just be content! Thanks for the post!
Thank you for sharing! I love to hear how others "DO"it. I am going to be homeschooling both my girls this coming year. I'm learning that it definately is a lifestyle of learning. I'm a little nervous, but looking forward to it. NO, I also refuse to put a map up in my living room, BUT I did paint a chalkboard right on the cottonpickin' wall! Seriously! I might not... should've done that. Live & Learn!
We don't have an extra room. We have a cabinet/ bookshelf unit on each side of the fireplace. I put less used or to be used books in the cabinet plus supplies. We have a coffee table with a BIG drawer where I put my teacher curriculum book and our daily books we use. We start off on the couch and loveseat reading and doing our history and science readers. They then go off to do their math and language. Where? On the couch, at the table, at the bar, on the stair landing, in their room, laying on the family room door, in doctor's offices, in the car on the way to shopping. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a school room every day waiting on them between assignments. But, for some reason I dream of one. I think it must be the dream of decorating one. Love Sonlight and have used it for core 3,4,5,6 and am repeating with younger kids now. We are finishing 3 this year. I have home schooled 13 years.
We don't have an extra room. We have a cabinet/ bookshelf unit on each side of the fireplace. I put less used or to be used books in the cabinet plus supplies. We have a coffee table with a BIG drawer where I put my teacher curriculum book and our daily books we use. We start off on the couch and loveseat reading and doing our history and science readers. They then go off to do their math and language. Where? On the couch, at the table, at the bar, on the stair landing, in their room, laying on the family room door, in doctor's offices, in the car on the way to shopping. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a school room every day waiting on them between assignments. But, for some reason I dream of one. I think it must be the dream of decorating one. Love Sonlight and have used it for core 3,4,5,6 and am repeating with younger kids now. We are finishing 3 this year. I have home schooled 13 years.
We don't have an extra room. We have a cabinet/ bookshelf unit on each side of the fireplace. I put less used or to be used books in the cabinet plus supplies. We have a coffee table with a BIG drawer where I put my teacher curriculum book and our daily books we use. We start off on the couch and loveseat reading and doing our history and science readers. They then go off to do their math and language. Where? On the couch, at the table, at the bar, on the stair landing, in their room, laying on the family room door, in doctor's offices, in the car on the way to shopping. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a school room every day waiting on them between assignments. But, for some reason I dream of one. I think it must be the dream of decorating one. Love Sonlight and have used it for core 3,4,5,6 and am repeating with younger kids now. We are finishing 3 this year. I have home schooled 13 years.
Nester, you rock!
I don't homeschool yet but am contemplating it for the future. My little guy is 11 months old so we've got some time. My vision is to finish our currently unfinished walkout basement (including knocking some holes in the wall to put in more windows). I figure that's where The STuff will be stored. But in reality I would *bet* that most schoolwork would be done at the dining table upstairs in our great room/kitchen/living area.
Or outside,or nice days like today!
i have wished i had the good sense to put in a homeschool room when we built this house. instead it is all in my dining room and there are times when i really hate it. i love how it is right next to the kitchen so i can be busy while they are working and i love that we have the big table to work on but i hate that on sundays i can't flip the walls around and make it look like a dining room instead of a homeschool room. plus we are outgrowing it!
Ny sister homeschools, and she came up with a very clever place to put her maps. She has a large rectangular table in the kitchen that they use for everyday and most projects. She switches out maps on the table top, covering it with a thick, clear tablecloth that she buys by the yard at the fabric store. The kids often refer to these maps, and study them while eating breakfast.
She also puts them on the walls beside the toilets (she has separate toilet rooms in her house) and on the back door of the downstairs bathroom.
As a longggg time HMer, they HS were ever I am. Even thought they are 17 and 12 they follow me around the house. So I have areas. Like a craft section, a library, bins for school books, but really were ever I am (usually the kitchen) is were you will find them learning. Clarice
I don't have kids, or a homeschool room, or maps in my living room (actually all that is in my living room right now is paint and a sofa). HOWEVER, if I got anything from this post, it is that your boys are absolutely, positively ADORABLE. I could just eat them with a spoon :)
I don't have either yet =p lol I thought about having a special room for Little Miss and my future children to do homeschool, but after reading your post it makes me think that as praticle as it sounds, maybe it isn't praticle at all? You have a nice blog =)
What a great post! This is encouraging to me. I'm gearing up for starting the first year of homeschooling my daughter this fall. I don't have an extra room for schooling, but I've been working on creating a *school corner* in our family room. It's good to know that I probably don't need a whole room...I noticed the pic of your boys and their box of Sonlight goodies. I'm looking at one of their catalogs right now. What do you think of it? Has it worked well for you?
We are currently in the process of moving all the stuff in the garage to our new shed. Then half of the garage will become our homeschool room. This is mainly because my girls are still young--5,4&2.5 and their homeschooling consists of a lot of craft and table time. Plus then I have room to store all the "stuff" we've already accumulated for schooling later. All the stuff is in about 5 different places right now and I am dreaming of the time I can pull all the supplies needed out of one place. So for now I think we'll use the room a lot. When they get older...I don't know.
I do not have a school room as I teach playschool. My daughter comes with me (which was the condition when I went back to work, she comes with the package -- we are an unbeatable team!!) and my son is in grade 1. Sometimes I think about homeschooling though...
Anyhoo, I too, (hazard of being a playshcool teacher --you start rhyming all the time) decided to have our dining room in our kitchen. I LOVE it. You will too!
I don't homeschool....but I agree a formal dining room = total waste of space.
I LOVE what I can see of your new house. Can't wait to see more.
You're such a nice mom. I can NOT WAIT for my daughter to go to kindergarten and I wish it went all day. I'm so mean and cruel.
I agree that you never know what furniture will fit until you start moving it in, but I cannot seem to drill that into my husband's head. But then, it's my philosophy on everything and he likes to plan to the letter. Okay that did not make sense. Who plans letters?
Are you dying to change out that light fixture? Do you like how everyone else is commenting on home schooling/homework spaces and I am fixated on decorating stuff?
Nestor,
I've always been impressed by your approach to decorating and beautifying your home but in the back of my mind I thought you were probably going to have a hard time homeschooling because you would be a "classroom" type mom/teacher. Well, I'm doubly impressed that you can go with the flow of your boys learning and enjoy it. Good for you!
I had a very large home and did have a school room for a time and it quickly became the school-gear store room. The problem with school rooms is that mom needs to go IN there to be close to her kids as they talk, read, or yell a question at her...versus kids at the diningroom table who are in the general vicinity of mom as she cleans the kitchen, starts dinner, does laundry or (hey!) even a window mistreatment ;).
My kids, generally work best at the kitchen table for sit down type work and all the rest of it is everywhere and at any time. And isn't that what "lifetime learning" is all about?
My only REAL problem is where and how to not let all those wonderful sonlight books take over the house!
Blessings!
Jill, mom of 8 who began homeschooling 19 years ago (and will still be doing it 14 years from now-yes-I have a big age span in my family!)
We will start homeschooling this fall, and will use our playroom/den for all of our stuff, and the learning will take place anywhere! I figure we may do our morning stuff at the kitchen table, and may hang some stuff in there, since I read a tip about taking the board and bulletin board down and replacing with other pictures!
Just yesterday my dh painted what will now be our school room. By "school room" I mean somewhere to hold all our junk and perpetually display all their wonderful crafts, hold maps and timelines, and be the place for our messiest crafts. I predict we'll still do most of our work upstairs in the dining room, but I was able to move out the bulletin board, books, etc. from our dining room. And it feels soooooo much better! So clean!
We have a map in our living room, right next to the couch. I like it because when we are reading about a certain place on said couch, we don't even have to get up to find it on the map! I DON'T like it because theresamapinmylivingroom.
I've always thought dining rooms were a fat waste of space too. In my dream house that we will start building soon (I hope!) I made sure the kitchen was big enough for a big ol' table (and not just a "nook" like so many of them) and I am turning our 'dining room' into a library with built-ins. It will also hold a couch and a table and no doubt a variety of toys for the littles, where I hope to do most of our schooling. But, like you, I will not be too sad if learning takes place elsewhere, I'll just be glad to have a place to hang the maps!
We start with reading too. We squish two couches together to make a boat (that one of my sons named Bonhamme Richard). We all love it.
We don't have a school room but I made my kitchen nook into my office. It's perfect because my computer, roomy desk (cute table I bought for $10), and all MY books are always close.
Thanks for blogging.
I'm new to your blog and I love it by the way! We are going to start homeschooling our son this fall. I'm very excited about it! We are planning on using our sunroom, I think it will be nice and comfy with lots of light to do our reading, but it is still going to be a multi functional room. I call it my sunroom/mudroom/part-time school room!! I didn't want to just use it as a school room. I am trying to find a big chunky frame to make our chalkboard similar to yours! Your blog is very encouraging Thanks A lot!
Amy
I think that anyone who lives in a McMansion has rooms that they never use. Such a waste of time (cleaning) energy (utilities) and of course space. We downsized this year and you will be shocked at how you can "make it work" wherever you go. I did not homeschool but love your style of doing it!
I have a little room with a desk, shelf, and long table. We don't use it for homeschooling though. :) We do math by the window, read on the couch, art at the kitchen table, you get the picture. :) We have different "stations".
I have found that homeschool takes place anywhere and everywhere and at any time. It takes place 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. I love it! And I understand about the struggling to know if I am teaching them everything they need to know and are they learning it at the same time as those in school. But I am also learning that each child learns at their own pace and by just listening to them and encouraging them and having patience, they learn and grow. We are also proud that our oldest son just finished his first year of college with a GPA of 3.4 and is a very mature, well rounded and fabulous young man.
Robin/Southern Bella
THis post is making me weep. I am going to miss homeschooling soooooooooooooooooooooo much (with a few more o's in there!). I hope it will only be a one year hiatus. I hate change when the stuff that has to change is good stuff. I always wanted a room too, but like you found that as long as I had a place to store all the "stuff"--our dining room table, the van, and outside became our classroom. And a big, stylish (of course!) bulletin board to hang all their masterpieces was a necessary too.
I love your new place. I can already see what you're going to do with it!
We also rent our home and decided to use the "formal" dining room as a library/schoolroom. We are all huge readers and usually can't bear to let go of our "loved ones" (books!), so a library seemed like a good use of the space. The room is open to the kitchen and to the living room, but our maps are stacked vertically on a wall that is kind of hidden around a corner, so we can't see them when we're sitting on the sofa in the living room. I like that the maps are there, because we frequently pinpoint locations, but didn't want to look at them from the main living space either!!!
We also have a small round kitchen table and two chairs for sit-down work in there, along with a comfy sofa that we all like to stretch out on for reading (or naps!). The walls are lined with bookshelves - mostly oak ones that we've had since oak was all the rage, but we have two other orphaned bookshelves from garage sales that actually look quite at home in there. (One short bookshelf actually fits exactly up against one of those wrought-iron railings from the seventies, so I upholstered the back of it with fabric-wrapped cardboard and attached it with your favorite upholstery tacks. It looks lovely - well, taking out the railings would look lovelier, but is not an option since we would end up with holes in the carpet!) We use a former wooden toy chest (really too nice to be called that) as storage for supplies (binder paper, art supplies, office/school supplies) and it doubles as a kind of footrest or coffee table in front of the library sofa.
I do find that my daughter does most of her work in her room on her bed and we sprawl on the sofa for reading aloud or discussion. The round table is getting used less and less, so I may just garage sale it. (Or cover it with table covers the way that you do and find a nice place for it.)
I totally agree that a copier is essential. There is such a treasure trove of resources online to supplement purchased curriculum. And we, too, love Sonlight! This was our first year using it, although we've tailored our usage of the curriculum to what works for us.
I absolutely love your blog! Thanks so much for the encouragement to beautify without getting stuck in the mire of perfection.
Blessings!
Michelle
Loved the little sneak preview of the rooms in your new nest! Can't wait to see how you arrange everything and how you mistreat your windows!
Have a great weekend!
We don't have maps in our living room, but we do have one in our basement. Which is where our big TV is. We got one in shades of brown so it blends with the wall and we use it all the time.
We have an eat in kitchen and I use our dining room for crafts.
You know it would really be easier if you just came for a visit and I could show you. Don't you think a field trip to Washington DC would be perfect for home school?
We dont have anything as lovely as you but I have come a LONG way in being more organized. As far as learning goes and where they do their work I have learned so much in this area. I think kids actually learn BETTER if they are not at a desk pushing a pencil. My kids do their work all over the house and outside. The only thing I have found that does help them focus more is having a routine in the morning of breakfast of course and they do have to get dressed and do hygeine stuff. I noticed early on if they study or work in their pj's they just didnt focus.
We are going to use our dining room for homeschool since it already has our computer in it. Also, it has nice bright windows surrounding it. I don't care about maps on the wall since we're not fancy people. We just received our Sonlight boxes in the mail yesterday. My dd who's almost 5 was so excited looking at all of the books. She wants to start school today!!
Amy
When I was a kid my little sister and I were homeschooled (I'm 29 now), and my Mom tried both ways. We had a school room for a while, but as many of you have found, it really just became a repository for books and projects we were working on. Almost all of our work was done at the (informal) dining room table. When we got older we did most of our work in our rooms.
And in case any of you are wondering, homeschooling was a great way to grow up. I had to go back for a year in 9th grade, and I was in line with the other students. I graduated from college with honors, and my sister went on to get her master's degree at 22. So you definitely won't mess up your kids! I promise!
You are so right about dining rooms! Ours has been taken over as our office. It's bright, the table is big and it's on the main floor.
I'm excited to see your new digs once you're all tucked in. Happy unpacking! :)
This was a fun read! I am trying to decide where to store our HS stuff - the books and pens and pencils and such. I'm thrilled about the idea of being able to have "school" anywhere in the house - or not in the house. I'm just not so thrilled at the prospect of having stuff all over the house or having to nag the kids to get it all picked up! What's a girl to do!
Hi! I am a starting out homeschooling Mummy! (kids aged 5, 4, 3 and almost 2)
We don't have a room, we use the couches and dining table mostly. I do have a HUGE walk in "toy cupboard" where i store all our supplies and toys that don't need to be in the kids rooms! (not books! they wouldn't fit in there!) oh, the top shelves double as my linen closet!!!
LOVE how your Keeping room is right next to the kitchen, isn't the kitchen really truly the heart of the home!
Love your blog.
Love your breakfast table. Have also visited dining room furniture collection at Macys, it's fabulous.
It is so fun to hear all these responses from homeschoolers! My dc are in public school right now, (K and 1st) but I've been considering HS. Dd had a horrible year this year and a rotten teacher. My biggest reservation about taking the plunge into HS is my free time. I admit it. I like to be alone.
I did teach preschool in my house for two years (technically "art class")and I had maps and charts on the walls of our family room which was the preschool room. Now it is all re-done and is our family room/dining room/office.
We home school and have and homeschool "room"--a lovely sunroom with, yes, a map on the wall and all kinds of funky school stuff everywhere--it's really neat. BUT we NEVER use it!! We store all the stuff in there and do school all over the house, inside and out. It is nice to have a place for all the books and supplies when we're done, though, so I am very grateful to have my homeschool room!
We like to read on the sofa too. A tasteful way to have maps in the Living Room is to get a nice looking globe. Make it look like a room accessory. But it's always there when you need to find some place. We also have a good atlas book so we can look at more specific maps that way and it's a book so it doesn't have to be hung on the walls. I love the idea of putting maps in the bathrooms. That's a great idea. I love those educational place mats with things like maps, the presidents, multiplication tables, etc. You could make your own by finding maps and having them laminated. My kids love having interesting things at the table while they are waiting for dinner to be ready.
Thanks for bringing up this topic! It's hard to find decorating ideas for homeschoolers.
Look at that!!! You're a Sonlighter, too!
(We really are all over the place, aren't we????)
Nester, your new house looks lovely! Love the columns! I never homeschooled, though I've threatened to do it a number of times. . . . When my eldest son was in first grade his teacher allowed her students to stand next to their desks, or kneel next to them, or walk up to the chalkboard to copy their spelling words, etc. She understood that little kids, especially boys, learn better if they don't have to sit still with their eyes ahead and feet on the floor! Hers was one of the quietest and best disciplined classrooms I've ever seen (and I have three kids, two out of high school and one going into 10th grade - that's a lot of classrooms!)
Susan in San Antonio
I agree with the dining room be wasted when you have a kithen-unless you are one to entertain daily. My husband uses that space as his home office. And yes-everyday he is in it. Well used space....
Once upon a time many years ago when we first started homeschooling we had a schoolroom for about a year. It had maps on the walls and everything. At some point, I just realized that we were a lot more comfortable doing school on the sofa, in my big bed, in the front yard, at the kitchen table, sitting on the floor in the hallway, and a lot of other places. The schoolroom fell by the wayside, though I did keep school supplies in there even when it became my office. Now with two teenagers you just never know where you might find them doing schoolwork.
We have homeschooled for 5 years and love it. We use our dining room table for school so it is always covered with books. It is a comfortable place and convenient to all the activity. I am up and down all day!
Lisa Q.
Hello! I just found your blog and I love what you have! Beautiful!!!! I usually don't like to comment on an old post, but I feel that I need to comment somewhere so here it is.
I plan on homeschooling my dd in a few years and have looked into Sonlight and I am very attracted to it. I hope that you are loving it.
I will be back!
i just did a google search to find some new ideas for our homeschool room before i "get serious" and paint it. what a lovely blog-find i found in you! LOVE your wonderful site and ideas- just wanted to say hello, and thanks for the inspiration, and affirmation (that our HS room will be more of a home base for the stuff, but not where we're "always" going to be- that's just what i'd assumed would happen!)
Megan
I totally agree with you on hating having big rooms that you don't even use. We are renting a home in SC right now and it is just too big! I decided to move my office and game room from upstairs to down because it just gets too hot up there and the A/C bill was so high last month! I am liking using the front room for the game room and having my computer table in the family room. I feel like I am in the center of everything now rather than stranded upstairs all day! Still don't use the dining room though, I moved my dining table to the kitchen and all that is in the dining room is the piano and a chair for reading in. By the way, I mistreated my bathroom window last night! My husband had to laugh because he knows I was reading your blog all day yesterday! ;)
You are SO right! We do our school at the kitchen table too. This is how I organize it all:
http://meyerfamilylovenotes.blogspot.com/
I was searching the web for ideas on school rooms & wondering if I needed to "convert" one of our bedrooms into a school room. I was so relieved to read your blog & realized we don't need "a room". We work in my daughter's bedroom, at the kitchen table, on the couch, etc...I don't think be confined to one area would work for us. So thanks...you have helped me figure out what I don't need to do! That'll save me some time & headaches :)
We do school all over the house! Tried the "school room" thing, but it didn't work for us. We use the office, kitchen table, living room, patio, kid's bed...whatever! It nice to have one room to keep things organized. Right now our stuff is in several different places. Consequently I end up forgetting what I have!
Okay - so I just had a baby 8 weeks ago, so I'm just now getting onto your blog to see all of the posts that I've missed. I am going to be home-schooling our children. I LOVED this post becuase I was just considering making a "home-school" room and you convinced me that it's not necessary! Thanks!
Hi,
We homeschool. We have a ranch w/ walkout basement which provides a nice basement area for a kitchen table where my children do table work: math, vocab, etc. The computer is also down there b/c my LR was getting too messy with it upstairs. It's used for TT Math and Rosetta Stone/Tell Me More, and of course by me!
BTW, we also use Sonlight. We read aloud in the LR, and everyone finds their favorite place for their reading. Some read on a couch, some behind the DR table (??) but everyone has their own "favorite spot" which is cute.
Maps: We pull them out and then put them away. I don't like seeing the school stuff upstairs, but the basement is all schoolish except for the Family Room spot. IF I could find a "pretty" map - the kind that look antiqued, I'd hang it up.
-jammie.
We started off with a school room when I started homeschooling our oldest. We never used it and it later became the bedroom for our third baby. We do school in the livingroom and kitchen...even the backyard picnic table:-)
My friend showed me your blog. It is beautiful! I am like you. We do have a "school" room, but it is more of a room where most of the books, etc.. are in one place. That being said, I do have books all over my house. And we do use the "school" room to do many schooly things. I personally like having this room;it's my favorite room in the house, but I admit it is a luxury that we could certainly do without. It definitely is not necessary to have a school room to do a great job homeschooling! PS-you can check out my blog if you want-there is a picture of the desk and mantel in our schoolroom in the Monarch butterfly post. Just click on the blogger icon-it should show my blog address.
Funny! I googled "homeschooling rooms" today because I am currently in the process of setting one up, and low and behold, my favorite blogger--the nester--came up. Should have looked there first! :)
Post a Comment